Our annual photo contest is nearing 1,000 entrants, and many of the portraits will make you forget all those pesky troubles … for a few minutes.

If you haven’t entered your cat into the contest, get over to the Welcome Page today. All you need is a great portrait of your cat and about 5 minutes to upload him or her to the contest.

Once you’re registered, entrants can vote on their own cat and others. Comments also are encouraged at the photo gallery, so bring some happy chatter to our colony, would you?

REGISTER NOW! The contest is about voting for favorite cats, so the sooner you’ve entered, the more votes you can tally. The contest wraps up May 13, so hurry on up …

The contest rules:

Dates: April 19 through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 13, 2010.

The details: We will accept photos of all cats, but only Orange County cats are eligible to win. Upload a photo (only one cat per photo, please). However, households with multiple cats can submit photos for each cat. Don’t forget to vote and vote often (up to 10 votes per minute).

How we pick the winners: There will be two winners. One winner will be determined by the number of votes their photo receives and the other by Register judges.

The winners and 8 other cats (four more top vote-getters and four chosen by the judges) will be printed in the Life section of the Orange County Register newspaper and appear online at ocregister.com/pets on Monday, May 17.

The prize: Both winners will receive a $100 cash card.

Tip: Share, share, share! If you use Facebook, MySpace, tell all your friends to help you vote for Kitty. The contest tool has a built-in share option. All you have to do is click on the photo you want to share and you will see the options.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.